PER, EPS, PBR and BPS are calculated in-house from the last 4 quarters (2025Q3–2026Q2) · Dividend yield is based on ₩0 per share · Prices as of the 2026-10-02 close
Since joining the SM Group, the balance sheet has improved sharply, but the core specialty paper business still swings quarter to quarter, and the graphene venture remains pre-revenue.
2025 consolidated revenue was KRW 67.8bn (+20.3% YoY), with the operating loss narrowing to KRW 495mn for a fourth straight year of improvement
The debt ratio fell from 167.1% in 2022 to 11.7% in 2025, and operating cash flow turned positive at KRW 3.59bn for the first time in the dataset
After a KRW 3.48bn net loss in Q4 2025, loss size narrowed again in both Q1 and Q2 2026
The company has purchased a 13,000-pyeong site in the Gumi National Industrial Complex to consolidate its Yongin and Asan production lines
Wholly owned subsidiary Kookil Graphene disclosed as of its Q1 2026 report that it still has no sales record or sales channel
Founded in 1978, Kookil Paper is a specialty and industrial functional paper manufacturer whose core products include thin tissue paper for cigarette filters, stainless-steel abrasion-resistant kraft paper, and heavy-duty kraft paper for cement and rice packaging.
Based on its most recent quarterly filing, revenue is split roughly 60% specialty paper products made at the Yongin plant, 36% distributed goods, and 3% processing revenue.
The company entered court-led rehabilitation in 2023, and after Samra Midas, the holding entity of the SM Group, completed payment for a KRW 100.5bn third-party share issuance, control passed to the SM Group.
As part of this process, the company halted its Asan plant, which had produced lower-margin industrial paper accounting for 34% of total revenue in 2023.
Resources have since been concentrated on the Yongin plant's higher-margin specialty paper production, an area where the company holds a leading domestic position in filter paper.
The company also purchased a 13,000-pyeong former synthetic-fiber plant site in the Gumi National Industrial Complex for KRW 20bn to build an integrated plant, with staged investment planned over the following four years.
Through its wholly owned subsidiary Kookil Graphene, established in 2018, the company also pursues CVD-based graphene and new-materials R&D, marketing to display, semiconductor, and bio-healthcare customers.
More recently, the company said it has succeeded in converting a global ice cream brand's consumable packaging from petrochemical-based material to paper, part of a broader push into eco-friendly packaging amid tightening plastic regulation, and it competes within the KOSDAQ paper and wood sector alongside names such as Moorim SP, Asia Paper, Paper Korea, and Youngpoong Paper.
| Quarter | Revenue | Operating profit | Op. margin |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025Q2 | ₩18.4B | -₩55,468,432 | −0.3% |
| 2025Q3 | ₩15.8B | ₩25,599,854 | 0.2% |
| 2025Q4 | ₩15B | -₩600M | −4.0% |
| 2026Q1 | ₩16.7B | -₩500M | −3.0% |
| 2026Q2 | ₩15.3B | -₩200M | −1.3% |
| Year | Revenue | Operating profit | Net income (parent) | Op. margin | ROE | Debt-to-equity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | ₩112.5B | -₩11.1B | -₩18.5B | −9.8% | −37.8% | 167.1% |
| 2023 | ₩80.7B | -₩7.4B | -₩21.3B | −9.2% | −15.4% | 63.2% |
| 2024 | ₩56.4B | -₩1.3B | -₩13B | −2.3% | −10.6% | 15.8% |
| 2025 | ₩67.8B | -₩500M | -₩1.9B | −0.7% | −1.5% | 11.7% |
Consolidated basis (financial statements including subsidiaries) · Final figures from DART filings · Net income attributable to owners of the parent · Data as of 2026-08-22
2025 consolidated revenue came to KRW 67.78bn, up 20.3% from KRW 56.37bn in 2024, though still below the KRW 112.5bn and KRW 80.7bn recorded in 2022 and 2023, respectively.
The operating loss narrowed for a fourth consecutive year, from KRW 11.05bn in 2022 to KRW 7.44bn in 2023, KRW 1.29bn in 2024, and KRW 495mn in 2025, with the operating margin improving from -9.8% to -9.2%, -2.3%, and -0.7% over the same span.
Net loss attributable to owners also shrank sharply, from KRW 21.28bn in 2023 to KRW 13.01bn in 2024 and KRW 1.86bn in 2025.
On a quarterly basis, Q2 2025 posted an operating loss of KRW 55mn but a net profit of KRW 1.81bn attributable to owners, likely reflecting non-operating items, while Q3 2025 turned operating-profitable at KRW 26mn even as the net result showed a loss of KRW 456mn.
Q4 2025 saw losses widen again to an operating loss of KRW 601mn and a net loss of KRW 3.48bn, before Q1 2026 (operating loss KRW 504mn, net loss KRW 359mn) and Q2 2026 (operating loss KRW 200mn, net loss KRW 208mn) showed losses narrowing again over two consecutive quarters.
Operating cash flow, which had been negative for three straight years (-KRW 11.50bn in 2022, -KRW 907mn in 2023, -KRW 13.51bn in 2024), turned positive at KRW 3.59bn in 2025 for the first time in the dataset.
The balance sheet stabilized markedly following the large capital injection tied to the SM Group takeover, with the debt ratio falling from 167.1% in 2022 to 63.2% in 2023, 15.8% in 2024, and 11.7% in 2025.
The specialty and industrial paper industry in which Kookil Paper operates is generally viewed as mature, with chronic demand stagnation and intensifying competition from low-priced imported paper cited as pressure points on earnings.
Rising prices for imported pulp, a key raw material, have also been flagged as a cost burden. That said, in certain industrial functional paper categories such as cigarette filter paper, the company is seen as holding a leading domestic position.
More recently, tightening plastic-use regulation and growing environmental concerns have spurred demand to replace petrochemical-based packaging with paper, and the company is targeting the food and household-goods packaging market as a new demand source.
Graphene is a material with broad potential applications across semiconductors, batteries, and displays, but Kookil Graphene remains at an R&D stage with no realized sales.
Within its sector, the company is grouped and compared with peers such as Moorim SP, Asia Paper, Youngpoong Paper, and Paper Korea in the KOSDAQ paper and wood category.
The company is pursuing a new-plant project to consolidate production facilities previously spread across Yongin and Asan onto a 13,000-pyeong site in the Gumi National Industrial Complex, with staged investment planned there over the next four years.
However, a detailed completion timeline and the scale of any capacity expansion have not yet been broadly confirmed through official company guidance, so progress should continue to be monitored.
In the eco-friendly packaging business, the company said it is pursuing development of grease-resistant paper for dairy packaging following its success in converting a global ice cream brand's consumable packaging to paper.
The graphene subsidiary continues to work on stabilizing large-area CVD synthesis processes and marketing to display, semiconductor, and bio-healthcare customers, but the timing of any actual sales has not been disclosed.
Some in the industry have floated the possibility that the idled Asan plant site could be redeveloped for real estate, potentially leveraging the SM Group's construction capabilities, though this has not been confirmed as an official company plan.
By contrast, the Yongin plant, which produces cigarette filter paper among other products, is seen by some as likely to continue operating given its domestic market leadership and limited redevelopment incentive.
The current share price trades at a level that reflects a clear premium over net asset value. Because the company remained in a net loss position over the most recent four quarters combined, no price-to-earnings ratio can be calculated, underscoring that a full earnings recovery has not yet taken hold.
The company has not paid dividends recently, limiting its appeal from an income perspective.
Multi-year results show operating and net losses narrowing each year, and operating cash flow turned positive for the first time in 2025, a positive shift in the balance sheet, but quarterly profit and loss continues to swing, so confirming whether this trend persists remains an open question.
PER, EPS, PBR and BPS are all calculated in-house (the same method as Naver and Toss) · Dividend yield = cash dividend per share from DART filings (supplemented by KRX) ÷ current price · As of 2026-08-22
Following the KRW 100.5bn third-party share issuance that brought the company into the SM Group in 2023, the debt ratio fell sharply from 167.1% in 2022 to 11.7% in 2025. Operating cash flow also turned positive for the first time, at KRW 3.59bn in 2025, improving cash-flow resilience.
The capital injection tied to the group takeover provides financial capacity to both wind down low-margin operations and fund new investment simultaneously.
Since halting the lower-margin Asan industrial paper line, the operating loss has narrowed for four straight years, from KRW 11.05bn in 2022 to KRW 495mn in 2025. Revenue also recovered, rising 20.3% in 2025 after bottoming in 2024.
Profitability metrics have moved in a consistent improving direction as the business refocuses on higher value-added specialty paper.
Amid tightening plastic regulation, demand to convert packaging to paper materials is spreading, and the company said it has secured concrete cases including converting a global ice cream brand's packaging.
It has also secured a site for an integrated plant in the Gumi National Industrial Complex, with investment planned over the next four years that could serve as a foundation for production efficiency. The business scope is expanding from cigarette-related paper toward food and environmental packaging.
After the net loss widened to KRW 3.48bn in Q4 2025, losses narrowed again in Q1 and Q2 2026, but a sustained run of profitability has not yet been established.
There were also periods, such as Q2 2025, where net profit appeared despite an operating loss, suggesting a significant non-operating influence that makes earnings quality harder to assess. The direction of quarterly results has not yet settled into a consistent pattern.
During the 2023 SM Group takeover, new shares equal to 787.5% of the pre-existing share count were issued at the par value of KRW 100, significantly diluting existing shareholders at the time.
This history of large-scale third-party capital raising remains a factor that could resurface as a dilution concern if further capital raises occur in the future.
Kookil Graphene, established in 2018, disclosed as of its Q1 2026 filing that it still has no sales record or sales channel. With the new-materials business remaining at the R&D stage for an extended period, the timing of any actual earnings contribution from this new venture remains uncertain.
The company has a history in which a former largest shareholder was detained and stood trial on allegations of trading on undisclosed information, and the company went through court rehabilitation and a listing eligibility review. This history can remain a factor weighing on the process of rebuilding investor confidence.
The specialty and industrial paper industry is regarded as mature, with competition from low-priced imported paper and volatility in imported pulp prices acting as cost pressures. If demand stagnation persists, the pace of revenue recovery could be constrained.
The integrated Gumi plant has staged investment planned over the next four years, but the specific completion timeline, investment scale, and capacity expansion effects have not yet been broadly confirmed.
The possibility of real estate development at the Asan plant site is also at the level of industry speculation and has not been confirmed as an official company plan.
Check whether Q3 2026 operating and net results improve further from Q2 and whether the loss-narrowing trend continues.
Watch for disclosures or IR materials on the start and progress of the Gumi integrated plant to see whether the investment schedule and capacity expansion plans become more concrete.
Check whether subsidiary Kookil Graphene records its first-ever sales and sales channel.
Watch for any additional disclosures on the use of the Asan plant site (sale, development, etc.) and further news on new eco-friendly packaging customer wins.
Following its takeover by the SM Group, Kookil Paper underwent a large capital injection and wound down its lower-margin operations, sharply reducing its debt ratio and, in 2025, posting positive operating cash flow for the first time.
Revenue and operating results improved for four consecutive years and net losses narrowed markedly, but quarterly results, such as the wider loss seen in Q4 2025, show that profit stability has not yet fully taken hold.
The push for an integrated Gumi plant and growing eco-friendly packaging demand point to a mid- to long-term business realignment, though the completion timeline and concrete effects have not yet been officially confirmed.
Wholly owned subsidiary Kookil Graphene remains at a pre-revenue R&D stage long after its founding, leaving the timing of any contribution from this new business uncertain.
Past legal issues involving a former major shareholder and a history of large-scale share dilution remain factors to watch from a governance-trust standpoint.
Investors will want to continue tracking upcoming quarterly results, progress on the Gumi plant, and whether graphene sales materialize to assess whether the current trends persist.
Report written 2026-09-05 · Data as of 2026-09-04
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